The Best Mobile Games of 2013

For all the commotion about next-generation video game consoles that people were subjected to this year, few, if any, of 2013′s best games actually came out on either of those devices. Partly this is a matter of timing — few consoles launch with quality games, and if the vibrant history of game development on both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 consoles are any indication, both of their successors will ultimately prove fertile ground for talented developers. But it’s also a sign of how much the game industry has changed in recent years, so much so that many critics have begun to wonder if this will be the last true “console” generation to speak of.

The elephant in the room for all these conversations is, of course, the iPhone. Since Apple introduced the iOS app store in 2008 to go along with its newly network-enabled smartphone, the combination of hardware and software have evolved into one of the most successful “video game consoles” that ever existed — though nobody, particularly anybody who actually works at Apple, would actually call it that. Other companies soon followed suit. And, well, anybody who’s ever played Candy Crush Saga or Angry Birds knows where gaming went from there.

Some hardcore gamers might still scoff at the ability for mobile platforms like iOS and Android to use their comparatively weak processing power to produce anything as triumphant as, say, Grand Theft Auto V. But at the same time, game developers of all shapes and sizes are now using these new tools the ways they always have: as artists and entrepreneurs trying to communicate an experience in the best possible way. And they’ve only gotten better at in the past five years.

With that in mind, here are the mobile games we had the best time with in 2013.

Ridiculous Fishing

Winning a well-deserved Apple Design Award this year, Ridiculous Fishing is a game about killing fish in, well, the most ridiculous way possible: by launching them out of the water and then shooting at them with a gun. Think Duck Hunt for a far more cynical generation of gamers. Once you cast your first line, it’s hard to put this game down again.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Technically XCOM: Enemy Unknown isn’t a 2013 game; it’s an iOS port of the original alien-killing strategy game that launch last year for the PC and consoles. But porting what was easily one of the best games of 2012 to a new platform is an achievement in its own right when it’s done this well. For anyone looking for a meatier experience than your normal iPad or iPhone game, this is a must-play.

Dots

It’s hard to explain what’s so intriguing about Dots. The game that quickly jumped to the top of the iOS charts earlier this year is as simple as they come: literally all you have to do is connect dots of the same color. Elegant and addictive, this is the perfect game for someone looking for a less smarmy version of Candy Crush Saga.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time is the best kind of video game sequel. It retains the core tower-defense structure that made the original game such a hit while introducing welcome additions fans probably didn’t even realize they wanted. Plant food, for instance, gives players a new ability to power-up their plants in hilarious ways whenever the horde of oncoming undead becomes too difficult to manage. Timed challenges and other kinds of special levels, meanwhile, help make this the rare kind of free-to-play game that doesn’t make its players feel like they’re constantly being hit up for cash. I’ll never look at a piece of cabbage or a watermelon the same way again.

Badland

Badland is a gloriously dark spin on the endless runner genre — you control an amorphous bird-like dark blob that’s careening through a twisted rainforest filled with creepy blinking creatures that resemble the giant rabbit from “Donnie Darko.” It’s as if David Fincher or Tim Burton were asked to create his own version of Jetpack Joyride. Adorable and perverse in equal measure, Badland is the kind of game that’s fun from the first moment you pick it up. But it only gets better — and darker — from there.

Icycle: On Thin Ice

Set in a Monty Python-esque cartoon tundra, Icycle: On Thin Ice is a delightfully abstract game that challenges players to steer a naked man riding on a tiny bicycle through a series of increasingly complex platforming puzzles. If “naked man riding on a tiny bicycle” didn’t clue you in, the game is nonsensical. But you’d be surprised how strong an emotional punch it can pack alongside fiendishly difficult segments where, as in the best Super Mario or Rayman games, every second counts when you’re to jump across a gap at just the right moment. Absurd yet powerfully affecting, Icycle is one of the best side-scrolling platformer games I’ve played in a long time.

Year Walk

As I said in an earlier rundown of terrifying horror-themed video games, Year Walk is the kind of interactive experience that should make people outside of MFA programs take the concept of “transmedia storytelling” seriously. Set in a gorgeously macabre snow-covered Swedish town, Year Walk spins an ambitious magical realist story across two different iOS apps. As an intriguing adventure-based puzzle game, it’s a brilliant rendition of a kind of story-driven gaming that’s sadly gone out of fashion ever since the original Myst began to fade away from our popular memory. But it’s also an important signal of where artists could, and should, bring mobile gaming in the years to come.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.